Census figures reveal sprawl spreading nationwide

RESTON, Va. -- Business is good for real estate agent Dan Hermann, but that's bad news for those clients who left city life for suburban tranquility.

Many grew weary of apartment living in Washington, D.C., about 20 miles east, while others were lured by the prospect of well-paying jobs at high-tech companies nearby.

The problem, though, is that more people keep coming, Hermann says, and that has fed the sprawl and urban congestion they sought to avoid in the first place.

With the latest wave of data from the 2000 census showing suburbs like Reston continuing to grow, it is a conflict unlikely to disappear soon.

Figures from some of nine states, including Virginia, that received their detailed population tallies last week show America may be on its way to becoming an endless chain of strip malls and housing developments from the Atlantic to the Pacific, demographer Martha Farnsworth Riche said.

''It doesn't look like anything is going to stop it,'' said Riche, a former head of the Census Bureau. ''You see people talking about ways to stop it or manage it, but they rarely get those proposals moving through the political process.''

The Census Bureau is scheduled to send data to 13 more states this week, and all 50 must have them in hand by April 1.

The numbers are used by state lawmakers to redraw congressional, state and legislative district lines. They are also used to distribute more than $185 billion in federal dollars among the states.

Among other things, the data also present a treasure trove of information for real estate developers and for businesses considering relocating to areas most popular for people looking to move.

And therein lies part of the problem in Fairfax County, Va., Reston's home, Hermann said. The county grew 19 percent between 1990 and 2000, to 969,749.

Some residents who could not get used to the growth moved away only three years after arriving, he said. ''They see the traffic and the hustle and bustle, and they don't like it.''

But Virginia is not the only state that's becoming suburbanized. Among the recent findings:

In Louisiana, New Orleans lost about 3 percent of its population, down to 484,674, during the past decade, while nearby St. Tammany Parish, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, had a 32 percent gain.

In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County had a 4.3 percent population decline, while neighboring Montgomery County, at 11 percent, and Bucks County, at 10 percent, had significant increases.

In Wisconsin, Milwaukee County was the only one in the state to shrink in population from 1990, down 2 percent, while neighboring Waukesha County increased 18 percent. Also Dane County, which encompasses Madison and its suburbs, grew by 59,441, the largest numerical increase in the state. Madison lies on a busy interstate corridor that runs east to Milwaukee.

The Census Bureau is scheduled to send data to the following states this week: Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, and Oklahoma.

In addition, information for two states to which the Census Bureau had been scheduled to send data to last week -- Texas and Vermont -- could also be released to the public this week.

The public, however, sees the figures only after the governor and legislative leaders in the states notify the Census Bureau that they have received them.

Those state officials have long been aware of the trend away from cities into suburbs, said James Hughes, dean of Rutgers University's public policy school. But the figures also show a burgeoning minority population in the suburbs, with new immigrants arriving to fill service-oriented and construction jobs, he said.

For example, New Jersey long has attracted harried residents from New York and Philadelphia seeking to buy a home. It also is a traditional destination for new immigrants as they settle into communities where they may already know someone else, Hughes said.

Add in the growth in the state's ''wealth belt'' growth regions, lined with pharmaceutical companies and high-tech companies, and it is not surprising that New Jersey retained its title as the most densely populated state in the country, at 1,134 people per square mile, Hughes said.

For Karen Martynick, growth in Chester County, Pa., which has some communities considered suburbs of Philadelphia, presents an interesting problem. The county grew 15.2 percent over the decade to 433,501.

''It poses an interesting dilemma for us,'' said Martynick, a county commissioner. ''We have a great deal to offer -- an exceptional quality of life, good school districts, beautiful open space -- and that's the attraction. But the difficulty is that growth also jeopardizes the things that cause people to move here.''

This article published in the Athens Daily News on Sunday, March 11, 2001.